Knox (Westport) Presbyterian Church

Sunday, June 13, 2021

https://youtu.be/E5Sft1AQObc

Hello Everybody!

Welcome to the Online Service of Worship for Knox (Westport) Presbyterian Church on this Sunday June 13, 2021.

As you know, the restrictions under the Emergency Measures Act in the Province of Ontario regarding the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus have been changed again this week to move in-person worship from Step Two of the proposed Re-Opening Plan to Step One.  This allows churches to resume indoor services of worship to a maximum of 15% capacity starting on Sunday, June 11 – today.

One year ago, after three months of restrictions imposed at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, churches were allowed to resume in-person worship service on Sunday, June 14, the Sunday before Father’s Day.  We resumed in-person worship services at Knox one week later on Father’s Day, June 21.  Our plan is to do the same thing again this year with our first in-person worship service since Easter to be held on Father’s Day, June 20.

We hope to welcome everyone back to Knox on this special family-oriented Sunday to celebrate what we hope will be the beginning of the end of these troublesome Covid-19 times.

If you haven’t already done so, get vaccinated so we can enjoy the fellowship and partnership of all God’s people.

In the meantime, I will continue to record services and messages from my home in order to continue to engage people in worship and learning and to share with you and anyone who cares to join us online. Don and Barb Warren will continue to provide the musical selections for our worship that they are also recording from their home.

I want to thank you for joining us on this journey of faith and discovery.  I hope this time of worship and learning will inspire and challenge you to live with unbounded faith in the power and presence of Almighty God and the Messiah, Jesus.

Stay safe and be well.

The Book of Acts

I am continuing to explore the Book of Acts and the story of the new, covenant community of God’s people, the Church.

Big changes are taking place in this new movement identified in chapter 9 of Luke’s account as The Way.  This new covenant community begins to put down roots and grow in new places and among people who do not have traditional Jewish roots.  These are exciting times of adventure and discovery for believers.

One of the pivotal points in the growth of The Way is the encounter between Saul of Tarsus and the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth on the Road to Damascus.  Many of the followers of Jesus had fled persecution by the Jewish elite in Jerusalem and were putting down roots and growing their movement in far off places.  It was Saul’s idea to go to Damascus, driven by his passion for the purity of the faith, to seek out these people and put an end to this movement that would destroy Israel.

“True Wisdom is being able to see life from God’s point of view.”

In Luke’s story about Saul’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus, Saul is blinded by a flash of bright light. In today’s exploration of chapter 9, we will discover how his physical blindness prepared him for a dramatically new way of seeing life and God’s true purpose for him.  We will also see how Ananias of Damascus need to have his eyes opened to a new way of seeing God’s true purposes for the people who belong to The Way.

I want to ask you two questions to get you thinking about what we will discover in the ninth chapter of the Book of Acts today.

A Moment for Quiet Reflection

What “new” lessons, insights, or decisions have you made in your faith journey in the past year?

What motivated you to learn or decide to make that change?

Don and Barb are going to play a brief musical selection to give you a moment to think about this.

Call to Worship – Hebrews 11: 1-16 – The Message

The Call to Worship is from the Letter to the Hebrews.  This letter is sometimes referred to as the encyclopedia of the Old Testament, telling the story of the Hebrews.  In our study of the Book of Acts, the story of the new, covenant community of God’s people, we have come to a turning point marked by a radical, life-changing encounter with Jesus.  Listen to how the writer defines and describes faith:

Faith in What We Don’t See

11 ^1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

³ By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

⁴ By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

^5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

⁷ By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.

^9-10 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become h is home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

^11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.

^13-16 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

Praise and Worship

Don and Barb Warren will lead us into the presence of God in praise and worship.  Please sing along where lyrics are provided.

Prayers of Adoration and Confession

Living God,

from you comes vitality, love and joy.

Your peace is our companion, your love is our strength, your Son is our hope.

In even our darkest moments, your presence brings comfort.

Hidden deep in the soil of life, your Spirit nurtures tiny seeds of purpose and potential to surprise us with new life.

Like the earth beginning to bloom around us, so your kingdom unfolds to surprise us with new possibilities.

We bring you our prayers and praise this day, trusting that your Spirit will bring us the gifts we need to serve you in faithfulness, renewed by your love, through Christ our Lord.

Living, loving God,

as we watch growth in our gardens and in the children around us, we confess we often resist growth and change as we grow older.

We form ideas and opinions about many things—and cling to them.

We think we already know what you desire from us and fear new insights and new directions.

Forgive us for thinking we already know it all.

Forgive us for blocking out the concerns and commitments of those who differ with us.

Open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to signs of new life.

Grant us faith like the mustard seed, so small and insignificant on its own, yet able to grow with your blessing to become a mighty sign of your lively kingdom among us. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive sinners.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN.

A Moment for Quiet Reflection

– Re-Visited -

In the introduction to today’s Service, I asked you two questions:

What “NEW”  lessons, insights, or decisions have you made

in your faith journey in the past year?

What motivated you to learn or decide to make that change?

When I was ordained and inducted into my first congregation in Almonte, Ontario forty-nine years ago, I soon realised that I had a lot to learn: about faith; about ministry; about my journey in life.  This led me to Philippians chapter one, verse 6:

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

This verse captured the idea that faith is an ongoing process of learning and growing that continues for a lifetime.  In the context of The WAY, we will discover how the lives of Saul of Tarsus and Ananias of Damascus were fundamentally altered by the visions God gave them to enable them to see their lives from God’s point of view.  I believe this is what characterised these people who belonged to The WAY and should be true of every follower of Jesus in our day as well.

In Acts 9, the unfolding drama of Saul’s conversion and the ministry of the followers of Jesus to him gives us a powerful presentation of Christianity as the Way.  Each phase of the story describes what the Way is like and gives us a picture of what we too are to be like as we become “followers of The Way”.

THE WAY

• A Three-Part Series -

I have decided to deal with chapter 9 of the Book of Acts in three parts aligned with each of the three phases of the Story.  Three personalities dominate this passage: Saul of Tarsus, Ananias of Damascus, and Barnabas.  The first is the most famous and shows how the Way begins; the second shows how it grows in spite of persecution and troubling circumstances as God uses ordinary people to accomplish his purposes; and the third shows how it requires followers of Jesus to welcome and embrace new ideas and the people who will bring about important ways of doing things.

Last Week - Part One – The Conversion of Saul – Acts 9:1-9

Part One in verses 1-9 reveals how what happened to Saul began his journey of faith on the Way.  It also reveals how we become followers of the way.

Today, Sunday, June 13 - Part Two – Persuasive Visions (Ananias and Saul) – Acts 9:10-19a

Part Two in verses 10-19 shows how the way grows through the willingness of Ananias and Saul to take risks in spite of his very real fears.  This shows us how we can be used by God to impact the lives of others.

Sunday, June 27 - Part Three – Barnabas and Saul – Acts 9:19a-31

Part three in verses 19-31 gives us a real-life example of how the people of the Way need to embrace people who become followers of Jesus from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  The way Barnabas embraced Saul and brought him to the leaders of the Way shows us how we need to welcome and embrace people while will bring about changes in the way we do things.

A quick review of Part One from last week:

The Way

• Part One -

The Road to Damascus

(The Conversion of Saul)

Saul had a decisive encounter with The WAY.

Many of us wonder if a Damascus Road experience is necessary to become a follower of The WAY.  Few have had the kind of dramatic encounter with the Lord that Saul had.  But that’s not the issue.  .  It’s not how dramatic an encounter is that’s important; it’s how decisive our response has been.  I am convinced that the Lord wants to restore all his people to an intimate relationship with him as their creator God and redeeming Messiah.  He wants us all to know and be filled with his indwelling Spirit.

The real questions we need to ask ourselves are:

• Have we ever really wrestled with the traditions and beliefs that have guided a lifetime of our living and actions to see life from God’s point of view?
• Have we passionately pursued the gods of our day and culture to finally surrender to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us?
• Have we ever felt blind to the reality of God, needing God’s healing touch to remove the scales from our eyes?
• Have we ever made an unreserved surrender of all that we have and are to the all-sufficient One who seeks to bless his people?

The Lord reaches each of us differently, but it inevitably involves a “seeing the light” where God turns our spiritual blindness into seeing life from God’s point of view.

The reason so few of us have a dynamic presence on The WAY is that many of us sit blind in our Damascus without asking the Lord to heal our blindness and give us a persuasive vison for living by faith in the presence and power of the Spirit.  We all have our Damascus Roads – dark nights of the soul – where we can choose the Messiah Jesus; choose to turn from the ways we have travelled; choose to allow the Holy Spirit to empower and use us to accomplish the purposes he has chosen us for.

The WAY begins with making that choice.

Today’s Message

THE WAY

 – Part Two -

Persuasive Visions

(Ananias and Saul)

So, let’s get started.  I am reading verses 1-9 from The Message translation:

¹⁰ There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.”

“Yes, Master?” he answered.

^11-12 “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”

^13-14 Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”

^15-16 But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”

^17-19 So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, “Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes—he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized, and sat down with them to a hearty meal.

A word of explanation about the accompanying picture illustrating the theme of Today’s Message.  I wore glasses all my life because I was severely short-sighted; everything at a distance was blurry or completely unrecognizable.  On more that one occasion when my glasses got broken or were lost in the river when I dove in without taking them off, I found myself almost in the same situation as Saul of Tarsus in Luke’s Acts Nine account of his encounter with the resurrected Jesus:

^7-9 His companions stood there dumbstruck — while Saul, picking himself up off the ground, found himself stone-blind. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus.

Now, in my advanced age, I not longer need glasses to see at a distance as a result of surgery to remove cataracts from my eyes.  I have 20/20 vision on anything further than 5 feet away but I need to wear reading glasses for anything up close.

One of the things that is striking about this part of Luke’s story about Ananias and Saul is that each of them were given a “vision” from God to encourage them to step out in faith to do something they feared and couldn’t imagine doing.  This very idea is at the heart of The WAY and the journey of faith as defined in Hebrews 11:1-2:

11 ¹ Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for.

Or as The Message translation puts it:

11 ^1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.  It’s our handle on what we can’t see.  The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

Let’s look, first, at Ananias.

1. A Persuasive Vision for Ananias of Damascus

“There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias.”

We met an Ananias in an earlier part of Luke’s story in the Book of Acts.  In that account we learned the name “Ananias” means “Yahweh is gracious”.

The earlier Ananias did not live up to his name in scheming to present himself and his gift to the covenant community in a more positive light.

I have chosen to use the description, “Ananias of Damascus” in this account in order to clearly differentiate this Ananias from the earlier one.  Ananias of Damascus lived up to his name as an agent of God in graciously healing Saul of Tarsus.

We don’t know very much about him.  We don’t know how be became a follower of Jesus, but what we do learn about him in this part of Luke’s story is significant in our understanding of “the people who belonged to The WAY” and the application of important principles of faith in our own “belonging to The WAY”.

He was a believer; he knew how to listen for the voice of Jesus; he was prepared to obey it even though it seemed ridiculously dangerous; he was persuaded that his participation would accomplish an important task; he went where he was sent and did what he was told; and, he did it with love and grace and wisdom.  You can’t ask for anything more.

Here is how it all unfolded in the life of Ananias and it is how faith and wisdom unfolds in the life of any follower of Jesus who “belongs to The WAY”.

1. The secret of two-way prayer: He listened for the voice of Jesus.

The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.”

“Yes, Master?” he answered.

Many years ago, the late Dr. Robert H. Schuller developed a faith principle known as “Possibility Thinking” based upon the secret of two-way prayer.  The idea is really quite simple and yet potentially life changing.  He suggested that if we listen for the voice of God in our prayers and daily decision-making, God can and will speak into our hearts and minds to plant incredible, outlandish, IMPOSSIBLE ideas that we could never come up with on our own.  If we listen for the voice of God and act on what God reveals, nothing is impossible.

That’s what is going on here in the life of Ananias.  It starts with God taking the initiative in speaking in a vision.  A disclaimer or explanation at this point about visions might be helpful here.  Some visions are literal images that physically appear before our eyes like the vision of Moses and the burning bush in the desert.  (see Exodus 3:2).  Some visions are mental images that capture our attention like the vision for Peter of prohibited items to eat that needed to be set aside in affirming the faith of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion.  (see Acts 10:11-13).  And then there is this “vision” for Ananias.  There is no physical vision or mental image given to Ananias – just a spoken word.

The important thing in this vision for Ananias was that he listened for the voice of Jesus.  God was planting in his mind an incredible, outlandish, IMPOSSIBLE  idea.

I am convinced that this happens much more frequently among people who belong to The WAY than we may think.  The problem is that we are too busy or too attentive to the ways of the world to listen for the voice of God when He calls our name.  The exciting life of faith on The WAY is listening for his call.

1. He was prepared to obey, even though it seemed ridiculously dangerous

It is actually quite surprising that there were any followers of Jesus left in Damascus by the time Saul of Tarsus arrives.  Word had clearly got around that he was on his way.  After all, it wasn’t every day that  the chief priest himself gave authority to a young hothead to raid the synagogues of a far-off town, in another country, to arrest and imprison of kill people who were following The WAY.

No doubt, Ananias and the other followers in Damascus must have been shivering in their shoes.  Little did he know that he would be used to literally change the course of history.  Like many such moments, it was frightening when it came.

At this point, God explained to Ananias what he planned to do.  This is a truly inspiring aspect about God’s direction and guidance in the midst of our confusion and fears.  God was doing something incredible in the life of Saul that nobody could yet see or know and Ananias could now be a part of this remarkable plan.

Let’s see what God told Ananias.

^11-12 “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”

First of all, there was a straightforward account of the circumstance that would strike fear in the heart and mind of Ananias.

“Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul.

But then look at what God told Ananias.

“He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”  

At the very same time that God was speaking to Ananias in his “vision”, God was already speaking to Saul in his “dream / vision” preparing them both for what He was planning to do.  Note, there are no elaborate details given to either man as to what would transpire, only that God was preparing everything needed to accomplish his purposes.

^13-14 Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”

Ananias is still worried.  He knew why Saul had come to Damascus; he knew what Saul had already done in Jerusalem, and now God is asking Ananias to go and see him?

I think if I was in Ananias’s situation, I would be afraid and reluctant too.  In fact, I might simply dismiss the whole idea and turn my attention to other things.

But God is just as persistent in his calling as Ananias or I or you are in our fearful reluctance.

^15-16 But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”

1. He was persuaded that his participation would accomplish an important task

Do you remember my definition of wisdom?

“True Wisdom is being able to see life from God’s point of view.”

What persuaded Ananias to do what he was being asked was God’s revealing to him what God planned to do through Saul of Tarsus.

At this point Ananias discovers something which the rest of the people had not yet been told. The Lord is calling Saul for a particular task.  The time has come for the message about the one true God, the Jewish good news of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be told to the wider world, the world of pagans, Gentiles, people who know nothing and care less about this Jesus of Nazareth.

Luke’s account is graphic: the same Lord who gave Saul a vision of Ananias coming to him prompted Ananias to fulfill that vision, his own vision, and the vision of God for the redemption of all the nations of the world.  It’s amazing how God works through people who are willing.

God could have completed Saul’s conversion to The WAY without Ananias, but he chose to work through a person who listened for the voice of Jesus; who was prepared to obey even though it seemed to be ridiculously dangerous; who would be persuaded that his participation would accomplish an important task.

Only two things remained to be done.

1. He went where he was sent and did what he was told.

Think, for a moment about momentous this would be for Ananias.

If he didn’t listen for the voice of Jesus; or if the was not prepared to obey; or if he was unwilling to be persuaded; or it in the final analysis he simple did go and do what he was told, God could accomplish HIS purposes by using someone else.

The result for Ananias is that his life of faith would be a shallow substitute for the depth of courage, hope and confidence that God would inspire and fulfill in him.  Could the reason for our faith becoming rote and ritual be that we have not done what God has clearly guided us to do?

Thank God for Ananias and the “people who belonged to The WAY” who listened to the voice of Jesus; who were prepared to obey even though it seemed to be ridiculously dangerous; who were persuaded to participate in a great task; and who went where sent to do what they were told.

And finally,

1. He did it with love and grace and wisdom

This Saul of Tarsus was the one who ravaged The WAY.  Ananias could justifiably feel resentment and anger along with his fear and confusion.  But there is no evidence of that in Luke’s telling.

Ananias addresses Saul with the salutation, “Brother Saul” which indicated a full and gracious acceptance of Saul as one of them according to God’s plan and point of view.

Ananias also acted with tremendous insight.  He did not instruct Saul in terms of what he should do or how he should respond.  He simply did was he was told to do and left the rest up to God.

This is a remarkable story of how The WAY grows through the willingness of Ananias to take risks in spite of his very real fears.  This shows us how we can be used by God to impact the lives of others.

But this story is not just about what Ananias did.

Let’s turn briefly to what happened in the life of Saul of Tarsus.

2. A persuasive vision for Saul of Tarsus

There are a lot of things packed into these brief verses about what happened to Saul of Tarsus.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes.

1. Spiritual blindness keeps us from seeing the wisdom and purposes of God

It’s interesting how Saul’s blindness is described here – “something like scales” on his eyes.  I think of the cataract surgery that I underwent a few years ago to remove what was akin to scales on my eyes.  These scales, however, develop over a number of years and if left untended can eventually lead to such a dense scale on the eye that a person can be rendered virtually blind.  I underwent a physical surgery to remove the increasingly cloudy lens and replace it with a new, precisely fitted lens that now gave me 20/20 vision which I never had before.

Whether understood in physical terms that prevent us from seeing clearly the things around us, or in spiritual terms that present us from seeing things as God sees them, removal of the “scales” is required.

He could see again!

1. The scales fell off and Saul could see again!

Of course, the immediate result was that Saul could see AGAIN.  His physical vision was restored to what he could see before all of this happened.

He got to his feet and was baptised.

1. His conversion was complete.

The fact the Saul was baptised is a king of shorthand for saying that he repented of his former ways, put his faith in Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, and became a part of this new movement of The WAY.

And sat down with them to a hearty meal.

1. Part of the family! A new kind of kinship.

One of the hallmark features of this new covenant community of God’s people was that they met from house to house and ate together.

Imagine the joy and excitement that filled that group of “people on The WAY”.

Ananias had been used to restore Saul’s sight and usher him into The WAY.

Saul would be exhilarated by receiving back his eyesight and then being able to see the Jesus of Nazareth, whom he encountered on the road to Damascus, was alive and the Messiah.

The believers in Damascus and other places scattered across the region could now live out their faith without fear.

Imagine yourself being a part of this wonderful story.

Imagine yourself as Ananias, listening for the voice of Jesus; prepared to obey even though it might be ridiculously dangerous; persuaded to participate in a great task; going where you are sent to do what you are told; and doing all this with love and grace and wisdom.  That can be your story on The WAY.

Imagine yourself as Saul, convinced that you believe the right things, do the right things, and demand that others do and believe the same.  It takes an encounter with Jesus of Nazareth to change all of that.  It may be in a lightning bolt that knocks you to the ground.  Or it more likely could be a still small voice that calls your name.  God is reaching out to bring healing and wholeness; to restore you to an intimate relationship with your creator God; to bring love and grace to your relationship with others; to build the kingdom of God on earth through Jesus the Messiah.  This can be your story on The WAY.

Imagine the “people who belong to The WAY” – the Church, called to be God’s people.

Let it be, Lord!  Let it be!

Prayer of Response

Let’s pray.

God of Grace and Glory,

We may only see the self-evident circumstances of the moment without realizing that you want to accomplish something truly amazing.  Give us faith that is willing to listen for your voice in the midst of all the noise that surrounds us.

God of Wisdom and Truth,

Your plans are always perfect and uniquely designed to meet our every need.  Give us faith to risk uncertainty in order to step out in obedience to your leading.

God of Infinite possibilities and opportunities,

You invite us to participate in something much bigger than anything we may try to accomplish in our own understanding and strength.  Give us faith to believe that your purposes are of utmost importance.

God of Light and Love,

Jesus is the Light of the world and we are often surrounded by darkness.  Take away the scales that cover our eyes and give us sight that delights the soul and fills us with a passion for living.

Thank you, Jesus.

AMEN

Closing Hymn –

Don and Barb are going to lead us in our closing hymn.  Please sing along.

Thank You

I want to thank you for letting me join you wherever you are to share in this time of worship and learning.  I am not sure, at this point in time, what the Covid-19 restrictions will demand in terms of in-person worship.  I will continue posting these online services and messages until at least the last Sunday in June in order to complete our exploration of chapter 9 in the Book of Acts.  We hope you will be able to join us on this exciting journey of faith and life in the Book of Acts.

Please consult our website or Facebook page for details about upcoming services and events.

Benediction – Ephesians 3:20-21 (The Message)

God can do anything, you know — far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!  He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.  Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, Jesus!  Glory down all the generations!  Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! Yes!